Tough choices for America's hungry

Summary

This article is about the food stamp program (aka SNAP). There are three different people that talk about their experience of being on the program. The first of the three people is a 52 year old man who has recently lost his job. He never thought he would be on the program, but is glad that he has food in his stomach. He is currently trying to get a job, but is waiting for a call back for one. The second person that is on this program is a woman with three children who each have a medical problem. Throughout her three years on the program, she believes that she is not getting enough money for food, and often goes without eating. She makes sure she feeds her children before she pays her bills or buys them new shoes. The third person that this article discusses is a woman that has three boys. She has a hard time feeding her family with the $319 that she gets a month. She says that with how high prices in the grocery store are it is hard to buy enough food. The spokesperson for SNAP responded to this by saying that the program is designed to help with the monthly grocery bills, not pay for them by itself. Everyone sees the flaws of the program, but the program helps many people who would not have any food what so ever.

Response

I think that the Food Stamps Program is an important program, because it helps so many children get the food that they need. If it wasn’t for this program then a lot more people would be starving. The thing that worries me the most is the people who take advantage of the program, and don’t watch what they buy. If they would spend their money better then they would be able to feed everyone in their families. Another thing that is concerning is that when people get all this free money, how often do they get away from the help and make something out of their life. I can understand if people have rough patches and need help, but some people just take advantage of the free food money. Its sad that some people who take advantage of the system give the people that actually just need help a bad reputation just because they are on assistance.
Americas hungry

I agree that there are many who truly need to be on the Food Stamp program. I am a single mom, have two living at home, and it is hard to feed them. I make three hundred a week, but my son also works to have some spending money. I really have to work hard and cannot afford to be sick or to take a day off. I also have been on the Food Stamp program when my daughter was born with many birth defects and I could not work. I was very greatful for having that help. I did get off assistance as soon as I could. On the other hand, like you said there are those who take advantage of the system. We get customers, in the store where I work, wanting to buy expensive prepared food or things that they're not suppose to buy with their bridge card. They purchase things that I would never be able to buy. Things that I call luxuries.

I really think that the food stamp program is actually very important because even if some people do find a way to abuse it there are still so many other people who can benefit from the free money. I know I have a group of three friends all struggling to find jobs, one of them can’t find anything and they still need to pay for rent and school. Food stamps and bridge cards can really help people who just need a little extra cushion to get by and be able to put some food on the table. It is not uncommon these days to find money getting very tight and sometimes without help, there just is no way for them to afford their basic needs. It is something America should be doing all it can do to help everyone receive their basic needs, because if someone isn’t getting their bare necessities, how can we call ourselves such a great nation?